Job 20:5-16

20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, ¹ 

the joy of the godless ²  lasts but a moment. ³ 

20:6 Even though his stature ⁴  reaches to the heavens

and his head touches the clouds,

20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; ⁵ 

those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’

20:8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, ⁶ 

and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.

20:9 People ⁷  who had seen him will not see him again,

and the place where he was

will recognize him no longer.

20:10 His sons must recompense ⁸  the poor;

his own hands ⁹  must return his wealth.

20:11 His bones ¹⁰  were full of his youthful vigor, ¹¹ 

but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.

20:12 “If ¹²  evil is sweet in his mouth

and he hides it under his tongue, ¹³ 

20:13 if he retains it for himself

and does not let it go,

and holds it fast in his mouth, ¹⁴ 

20:14 his food is turned sour ¹⁵  in his stomach; ¹⁶ 

it becomes the venom of serpents ¹⁷  within him.

20:15 The wealth that he consumed ¹⁸  he vomits up,

God will make him throw it out ¹⁹  of his stomach.

20:16 He sucks the poison ²⁰  of serpents; ²¹ 

the fangs ²²  of a viper ²³  kill him.

[20:5]  ¹ tn The expression in the text is “quite near.” This indicates that it is easily attained, and that its end is near.

[20:5]  ² tn For the discussion of חָנֵף (khanef, “godless”) see Job 8:13.

[20:5]  ³ tn The phrase is “until a moment,” meaning it is short-lived. But see J. Barr, “Hebrew ’ad, especially at Job 1:18 and Neh 7:3,” JSS 27 (1982): 177-88.

[20:6]  ⁴ tn The word שִׂיא (si’) has been connected with the verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift up”), and so interpreted here as “pride.” The form is parallel to “head” in the next part, and so here it refers to his stature, the part that rises up and is crowned. But the verse does describe the pride of such a person, with his head in the heavens.

[20:7]  ⁵ tn There have been attempts to change the word here to “like a whirlwind,” or something similar. But many argue that there is no reason to remove a coarse expression from Zophar.

[20:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they do not find him.” The verb has no expressed subject, and so here is equivalent to a passive. The clause itself is taken adverbially in the sentence.

[20:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “the eye that had seen him.” Here a part of the person (the eye, the instrument of vision) is put by metonymy for the entire person.

[20:10]  ⁸ tn The early versions confused the root of this verb, taking it from רָצַץ (ratsats, “mistreat”) and not from רָצָה (ratsah, “be please with”). So it was taken to mean, “Let inferiors destroy his children.” But the verb is רָצָה (ratsah). This has been taken to mean “his sons will seek the favor of the poor.” This would mean that they would be reduced to poverty and need help from even the poor. Some commentators see this as another root רָצָה (ratsah) meaning “to compensate; to restore” wealth their father had gained by impoverishing others. This fits the parallelism well, but not the whole context that well.

[20:10]  ⁹ tn Some commentators are surprised to see “his hands” here, thinking the passage talks about his death. Budde changed it to “his children,” by altering one letter. R. Gordis argued that “hand” can mean offspring, and so translated it that way without changing anything in the text (“A note on YAD,” JBL 62 [1943]: 343).

[20:11]  ¹⁰ tn “Bones” is often used metonymically for the whole person, the bones being the framework, meaning everything inside, as well as the body itself.

[20:11]  ¹¹ sn This line means that he dies prematurely – at the height of his youthful vigor.

[20:12]  ¹² tn The conjunction אִם (’im) introduces clauses that are conditional or concessive. With the imperfect verb in the protasis it indicates what is possible in the present or future. See GKC 496 §159.q).

[20:12]  ¹³ sn The wicked person holds on to evil as long as he can, savoring the taste or the pleasure of it.

[20:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the middle of his palate.”

[20:14]  ¹⁵ tn The perfect verb in the apodosis might express the suddenness of the change (see S. R. Driver, Tenses in Hebrew, 204), or it might be a constative perfect looking at the action as a whole without reference to inception, progress, or completion (see IBHS 480-81 §30.1d). The Niphal perfect simply means “is turned” or “turns”; “sour is supplied in the translation to clarify what is meant.

[20:14]  ¹⁶ tn The word is “in his loins” or “within him.” Some translate more specifically “bowels.”

[20:14]  ¹⁷ sn Some commentators suggest that the ancients believed that serpents secreted poison in the gall bladder, or that the poison came from the gall bladder of serpents. In any case, there is poison (from the root “bitter”) in the system of the wicked person; it may simply be saying it is that type of poison.

[20:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “swallowed.”

[20:15]  ¹⁹ tn The choice of words is excellent. The verb יָרַשׁ (yarash) means either “to inherit” or “to disinherit; to dispossess.” The context makes the figure clear that God is administering the emetic to make the wicked throw up the wealth (thus, “God will make him throw it out…”); but since wealth is the subject there is a disinheritance meant here.

[20:16]  ²⁰ tn The word is a homonym for the word for “head,” which has led to some confusion in the early versions.

[20:16]  ²¹ sn To take the possessions of another person is hereby compared to sucking poison from a serpent – it will kill eventually.

[20:16]  ²² tn Heb “tongue.”

[20:16]  ²³ tn Some have thought this verse is a gloss on v. 14 and should be deleted. But the word for “viper” (אֶפְעֶה, ’ef’eh) is a rare word, occurring only here and in Isa 30:6 and 59:5. It is unlikely that a rarer word would be used in a gloss. But the point is similar to v. 14 – the wealth that was greedily sucked in by the wicked proves to be their undoing. Either this is totally irrelevant to Job’s case, a general discussion, or the man is raising questions about how Job got his wealth.